Picking Nits
Ted not knowing Billy's grade; unattended jungle gym; Christmas firing; cross-examination attacking Ted's career; Joanna watching from the cafe window; Ted not recognizing Joanna's voice; Billy sleeping through fights; French toast without cinnamon
In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:31Read transcript
- Ted not knowing what grade his son is in is called the dumbest, most ludicrous moment, even as a signal of self-absorption.
- Any parent would get a child down once he climbs the jungle gym holding an object.
- Firing Ted just before Christmas is hard to buy; a company would not do that rather than wait until mid-January.
- Anything else is declined, but several scenes, especially the firing, seem designed to create narrative tension in a way that strains belief. — Sean Fennessey
- The cafe would likely ask Joanna to stop pressing against its window, and Ted failing to recognize his former wife's voice on the phone is called insane.
- The biggest nit is how Billy sleeps through every shouting match in the apartment; this is rebutted as realistic because young children, unlike babies, sleep through anything.
- The cross-examination is called the film's fatal flaw: attacking Ted's career when he struggles because he is caring for his son would be a merit in family court, and it strains credulity.
- Ted never angrily points out on the stand that Joanna left and he cared for Billy for 15 months; a devil's advocate reply says the unfairness is the emotional point.
- Jane Alexander's character is blamed for letting Billy fall from the jungle gym while telling her story, and joked to be a plant for Joanna.
- The French toast has no cinnamon or vanilla.